#techtips 09.18

Every month on our Newsletter we answer the most popular questions & advise on common problems we get into our workshop.. first up, how often should you get your bike serviced?

This all depends on "use & abuse" - we often say you can do 1000's of kms in the dry but 100km in the wet could have your bike in poor shape in no time. So it's all based on conditions really, if you're a fair weather cyclist, maybe once a year, whereas if you use your bike in all weathers it can make sense to service it 2-3 times a year, along with some basic servicing at home.

Bikes can and will last for decades but only if they are looked after - the key thing is catching something before it does real damage - a loose or creaky part could be fixed easily if you catch it early, but if ignored it can cause a lot of damage & have knock on effects on other parts of the bike.

How much does a service cost?

This depends on how hard your bike works and what condition the parts are in - a well maintained bike might only cost €35 to service once or twice a year (Bronze Service) whereas bikes that have been working hard will need more TLC and really benefit from a more in-depth service of internal bearings (Silver Service).

High end bikes deserve a lotta love too - our Big Mac service costs over €250 but has our head mechanic Karl dedicating a full day to it - if you've spent several thousand on a bike it makes no sense to ignore it's maintenance. Perversely, it's often the cheaper bikes that can accrue more costs, with mechanics spending endless days trying to free seized components or tune badly fatigued drivetrains.

As for incidentals, Brake Pads might need replacing (€5.99 a pair), cables can rust/fatigue (€3.99) and bigger ticket items like chains and cassettes will need to be changed every few 1,000km.

How often should I pump my tyres & to what pressure?

The biggest drawback to owning a bike is having to seemlingly endlessly pump the tyres - the fact is they are losing air by the minute, slowly but very, very surely! Good practice is to "pinch test" them before every spin and ideally pump them up - the recommended pressure its always imprinted on the side wall of the tyres and should be followed to avoid issues but there are generally accepted pressures that most people can aim for:

Hybrid Tyres are usually 50-80PSI while road tyres are 90-120PSI - MTB tyres are 30-40PSI but cyclists can have preferences - beyond what they say on the wall there are rider preferences and riding styles that can have them set at different pressures - some pro’s & elite riders even specify different front & rear pressures with the most predantic mechanics even setting them to levels that take into account atmospheric pressures and the length of the race!!